[Advaita-l] Fwd: Bhishma's Advaitic realization

[Divya Meedin]

Namaskaram Sir,

Thank you for this beautiful share.

Sincerely,
Divya

On Mon, Dec 14, 2020 at 2:01 PM V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
> From: V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
> Date: Mon, Dec 14, 2020 at 1:24 PM
> Subject: Bhishma's Advaitic realization
> To: <advaitin at googlegroups.com>
>
>
> In the Srimad Bhagavatam, 1st Canto, Chapter 9, Bhishma, in his last
> moments, does a stuti of Sri Krishna and finally says:
>
> तमिममहमजं शरीरभाजां
> हृदि हृदि धिष्ठितमात्मकल्पितानाम् ।
> प्रतिद‍ृशमिव  नैकधार्कमेकं
> समधिगतोऽस्मि विधूतभेदमोह: ॥ ४२ ॥
>
> I have realized that Supreme who is present in each and every manas of the
> beings which Brahman has created. It is akin to one sun appearing as many
> in the various reflecting bodies. So too One Atman alone exists and the
> perception of apparent multiplicity is due to delusion, from which I am now
> free.
>
> The delusion, 'bheda moha', is stated in the Vishnu Purana too:
>
> सर्वभूतान्यभेदेन ददृशे स तदात्मनः ।
> यथा ब्रह्मपरो मुक्तिमवाप परमां द्विजः ॥ २,१६.२० ॥
> तथा त्वमपि धर्मज्ञ तुल्यात्मरिपुबान्धवः ।
> भव सर्गगतं जानन्नात्मानमवनीपते ॥ २,१६.२१ ॥
> सितनीलादिभेदेन यथैकं दृश्यते नभः ।
> भ्रान्तदृष्टिभिरात्मापि तथैकः सन्पृथक्पृथक् ॥ २,१६.२२ ॥
> एकः समस्तं यदिहास्ति किञ्चित्तदच्युतो नास्ति परं ततोन्यत् ।
> सोऽहं स च त्वं च सर्वमेतदात्मस्वरूपं त्यज भेदमोहम् ॥ २,१६.२३ ॥
>
> 'Just as that Brahmana attained liberation owing to his perceiving
> everything as non-different from the Self, thereby tuned to Brahman, you
> too, O King, knower of Dharma, looking upon yourself, enemies and relatives
> as the same, knowing the One Atman to be present in all. The wrong
> perception of many Atmans is due to delusion, as exemplified in the
> space/sky appearing as many owing to the erroneous perception of colors
> such as white, black, etc. even though space is one only without any
> colors. Whatever exists is only that Supreme Achyuta and nothing else other
> than That exists. All perception of duality as 'I am that, you are that, he
> is' etc. are all due to  ignorance which you give up.
>
> We may recall the Bhashya of Shankaracharya to the Bh.Gita 2.12 where he
> says:  The plural used in the verse to refer to the various entities in the
> battle is due to the plurality in the bodies and not due to the plurality
> of Atman.  We find validation of Shankara's remark in the Bhagavatam and
> the Vishnu Puranam cited above.
>
> न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः ।
> न चैव न भविष्यामः सर्वे वयमतः परम् ॥ १२ ॥ 2.12.
> न तु एव जातु कदाचित् अहं नासम् , किं तु आसमेव । अतीतेषु देहोत्पत्तिविनाशेषु
> घटादिषु वियदिव नित्य एव अहमासमित्यभिप्रायः । तथा न त्वं न आसीः, किं तु
> आसीरेव । तथा न इमे जनाधिपाः न आसन् , किं तु आसन्नेव । तथा न च एव न
> भविष्यामः, किं तु भविष्याम एव, सर्वे वयम् अतः अस्मात् देहविनाशात् परम्
> उत्तरकाले अपि । त्रिष्वपि कालेषु नित्या आत्मस्वरूपेण इत्यर्थः ।
> देहभेदानुवृत्त्या बहुवचनम् , नात्मभेदाभिप्रायेण ॥ १२ ॥
>
> The commentary of Sridhara Swamin for the Bhagavatam verse is:
>
> See image here:  https://groups.google.com/g/advaitin/c/qx2OpR-ydGA
>
> The commentary highlights the idea of delusion behind plurality of Atman,
> on the analogy of the one sun reflecting in the various water bodies.
>
> Om Tat Sat
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